this is my fourth season in baseball, two were spent during summers in college. i could easily just keep on truckin in the minor league business, keep selling those tickets and advertising, but the money just isn't here. tough to make a good living in the biz. even GMs which I should be qualified for in a couple years don't make a killing. i'm actually looking forward to having some resemblance of a summer.

i kinda feel like going into school with the ambition of becoming a big shot agent or high ranking executive with a major league team, but i'm sure something else will catch my eye while i'm there to sway me in a new direction.

i love sports, but jobs are tough to find unless you know someone or have some amazing credentials. plus it's tough to find a job in the place you actually want to live. too limiting. i could stay in it but i think law school will open up some new doors. i know OU has a great undergrad sports program and a great masters program. just not looking to go to ohio. would like to move back to florida or somewhere in the northeast.

My dream job is to be a sports agent and I have done a lot of research on this. I can tell you that it's extremely hard to get into this field and most people who are in the business will not help out a stranger looking to get started. It's pretty much you either know people in the field, or you get lucky and win the lottery. Even if you finish #1 in your law school, you will not become a sports agent unless you get lucky and/or have connections. And also, it doesn't really matter which school you go to, and what grades you get. Those aren't nearly important as your people skills and connections. In fact, law school is not even needed. It's all about who you know and who is willing to train or at least help you get on your feet.

I'm mostly looking into representing basketball players in Europe. They all make solid money (although not anywhere close to NBA players) and agents typically get 10% of their deals. If you do a lot of research online, you will find some message board etc of players looking to play ball overseas and they leave their contact information, so that's an approach I'm considering. The typical first question they ask you though is, "Who do you represent?" and getting the first client is pretty hard. However, if you sign a lot of players even those who play in Europe, the money can be unbelieveable.

Also, the job is also not all about negotiating contracts. You really have to know the league and sport you work with extensively to be able to place players into teams where they will be the most productive and successful. You pretty much have to be one of those 24-7 hardcore sports lovers to be an excellent agent.

I personally have some contacts in the field already, but they will definitely not hold my hand and help me get started. Right now, I'm not sure if I'll even be going to law school because it's not necessary for a sports agent. A lot of sports agent start out being lawyers and try to work their way up. You generally can't just say one day that you want to be a sports agent and drop everything else. You need $$ and you need players, which generally means you either get a gig with a sports agency willing to pay you a base salary for helping with other clients (and not necessarily your own) or you work a full-time job like being a lawyer etc and try to get players in your free time. Again, it is mostly about connections, so there is no direct path.

Btw, the national sports agent convention is going to be the last week of feb. in indianopolis. It's a good place to do networking and talk with fellow agents.

Where do you live? I'm always interested in getting new relationships in the business because I've come to realize that there aren't that many friendly faces who are willing to help you get started in this.

How do you know if it is optional or not? I don't think this is as important as you all are saying it is... Can't you just say "I didn't know if I was supposed to fill that part out, it seemed really personal to me." ?

What I ended up doing is faxing AND mailing it out to the school and in the letter I did do the whole "dear so and so" and "sincerely" etc. Don't put "please add the attached addendum" - instead just make it a letter and title it "Addendum" and they will automatically put it at the top of your file once received. also, i would put your name, SSN, and LSAC as the header.